Hamilton Wins in São Paulo From Last in the Sprint and 10th on the Grid

Lewis Hamilton has produced one of the drives of his career to win the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos on Sunday, November 14. The vegan Mercedes driver started tenth, carved through the field and passed title rival Max Verstappen with DRS on lap 59 to win by 10.4 seconds.

The weekend could hardly have started worse. Hamilton was disqualified from Friday qualifying over his car's drag reduction system and had to start Saturday's sprint from last. He fought up to fifth, then took a five-place grid penalty for a new engine. From tenth he was up to fifth by lap 5 and second by lap 19. Verstappen pushed him wide at Turn 4 on lap 48, but Hamilton kept coming, and the win cuts Verstappen's lead from 21 points to 14 with three races left, Formula 1 reports.

Did I think we could come from last? I don't know what was possible but I just gave it everything and this has definitely been probably one of the best weekends, if not the best weekend I have experienced in probably my whole career.

He added that the team had "cultivated a positive mental attitude and went in fighting, guns blazing", telling F1.com: "Mentally you can just think it's over, it's impossible, but then nothing is if you put your mind to it."

Hamilton has been vegan since 2017 and says the change has made him healthier, not weaker. "I think my health has just got better and better over the last couple of years as I've gone to the plant-based diet," he told the Express, as reported by VegNews. He has also been clear that it's about more than racing: "a large part of the reason I have gone that way is because of the environment and for the animals."

This is the latest twist in a remarkable season. In September Hamilton became the first driver to win 100 Grands Prix, months after he took F1's first-ever 100th career pole. Two years ago he won his sixth title and opened a plant-based burger chain.

Powered by plants, and never giving up.